My story by Kathleen Geoghegan I started smoking at the age of five; at first it was like maybe one a day. My mom noticed that it helped me settle down and able to work with her to learn how to say some words or reading. I was very hyper as a young person and had problems learning new things and concentration. All my old report cards from that time said so. I am sure now they have drugs for kids that help but not when I was young. I really started smoking a lot more at age 12 to 13 after my mom passed away: at that time I was smoking a pack a day. By the time I was 20 I was smoking two packs (40) a day and that was the norm for most of my adult life. My husband passed away in 2006 and I increased my smoking to three packs a day (60) or more as was under a lot of stress and pain. For many years I was trying to quit smoking; I started with a gadget that timed my smoking so would cut back on time. Can’t remember the gadget name but was it was in the late 1980s and it didn’t work for me. Then I tried the gum and it caused my acid reflux to be a lot worse. So I smoked until the patches came out and tried that. The patches made me get blisters on my skin and very red but I kept it up but taping the patches on my skin so they would not fall off from the fluid of the blisters. It was important at that time as I needed surgery and had to quit for a year before I could have the surgery. It was awful and I cheated with smoking at times. After the surgery I did try to keep my smoking down when I realized that without smoking my memory was very bad and focus was not there. I am deaf and have fibromyalgia and smoking seemed to help so I did some research on nicotine and found out why it was helping me. The doctor of course wanted me off smoking as I had asthma but he was not addressing the situation of my needing them not just because I was addicted. I also tried the little tube that you would puff (inhale) but I couldn’t feel anything other than a sore throat and would almost make me pass out trying to get something from that delivery method. So nothing was working for me and I had realized that I wanted nicotine in my life as it helped me in my life. I hated feeling like I was some kind of dirty person that had no will power. I had lost any social life and so I just was on my own using computer to have a social life. I do not do sign language but I lipread/speech read and that requires a lot of focus. So when I am around people I wanted to smoke more and that sure didn’t help me maintain a social life. It was while I was on a social chat room site chatting with someone that I heard about e cig so I got online and did some research. I researched all I could find on them for about 4 or 5 months then on Sept 2010 I made an online order for a set with a couple of e liquid flavors. The set (Ego E Cig set)arrived on October 1, 2010 with two flavors of e liquid: One of the flavors was butterscotch and one was a tobacco flavor. LOL I quickly realized I didn’t like the taste of tobacco and since then I have tried all kinds of sweets and fruit flavors. I prefer them and make my own flavors now. I am doing great and proud of myself for finding e cig and researching them. There is not one negative for me for vaping and I will continue to vape for my own pleasure that doesn’t affect others. I am not sick just because I like nicotine in my life any more than people that like coffee for the caffeine or people that like the high caffeine in their beverages. I don’t like caffeine never had a cup of coffee in my life, my beverages that I buy have no caffeine in them and all my medications like my pain medications I get the ones with no caffeine in them. I am sensitive to smells as many will give me migraines and I don’t have that problem with vaping all the time. I do have problems going to stores and passing the air freshener and candles as they give me nasty headaches. I am that sensitive that I don’t allow those products around me even someone wearing perfume. All the e cig vapor never gives me any issues. October 1st (2013) will be my three year anniversary for quit smoking and I have never been so happy about my choice in quitting the tobacco cigarettes and changing to e cig. The equipment keeps getting better and better and the flavor extracts that are made for e liquid are becoming more and more numerous. I am 56 years old at the time I am writing this. I am an adult and I should have the right to use nicotine. It is my choice to continue using nicotine using my personal vaporizers with any of the flavors I enjoy. I get a base mix for the nicotine level I want and add my own flavor but also I can adjust the PG or VG levels that work for me. I prefer more VG than PG and I learned this by trying it on making my own E liquid. E Cig (Personal Vaporizers)should not be regulated as tobacco products as they don’t contain tobacco nor should they be classed as a medication. I am not smoking all the tar and cancer causing chemical/substances and the vapor is not harmful to others around me. It is so nice not to have my home or clothes smelling bad. I really don’t think people that use personal vaporizers should be stuck outside with the smokers. As for making E cig classed as medication just doesn’t make sense to me as nicotine is not a medicine and although I do understand the benefits to nicotine that still shouldn’t make it a medicine. You don’t make a cup of coffee a medication so why would you do an E Cig as a medication? The price would go up and the technology will slow down with less choices for us vapors. E Cig or Personal Vaporizers should have their own class and I don’t think they should be as high taxed as regular smoking cigarettes as they pose no danger to me or others around me. Thank you for reading my story.